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So its been established that all of these guys did not have a purple patch or something but are rather terrific players. All three among the runs all the time. Smith is by far the best Test player, followed by Root, KW and then VK.

As for ODI's, its Virat Kohli all the way followed by Root and then Smith & KW.

So its been established that all of these guys did not have a purple patch or something but are rather terrific players. All three among the runs all the time. Smith is by far the best Test player, followed by Root, KW and then VK.

As for ODI's, its Virat Kohli all the way followed by Root and then Smith & KW.

Don't put smith and Williamson in the same league in ODIs. Smith is only behind Kohli in ODIs and unlike Kohli he has been an absolute beast in World Cup knockout games

Don't put smith and Williamson in the same league in ODIs. Smith is only behind Kohli in ODIs and unlike Kohli he has been an absolute beast in World Cup knockout games

True. KW hasn't really proven to be that good in ODI's, which is why he is last in ODI's. However, I'd have Root before Smith. Root is always among the runs. He just had a terrific tour of West Indies and has a lot of hundreds too. But Kohli is easily better than all of them when it comes to LOI's. Lets see who leads the contest in the future.

So its been established that all of these guys did not have a purple patch or something but are rather terrific players. All three among the runs all the time. Smith is by far the best Test player, followed by Root, KW and then VK.

As for ODI's, its Virat Kohli all the way followed by Root and then Smith & KW.

Nah.

It's Smith and Kohli, the other two have proven to be below those two.

Smith is far stronger in Tests and I'd take him over Root in ODi's. How is it even debatable who second is?

Only Kohli is ahead and that's because he's T20 GOAT and on his way to being ODI GOAT.

Kohli is T20 GOAT?! LOL. Yeah, he's really good but are you serious?! He just had one good year. He doesn't even have a 100 in T20i's LOL. And the one good year he did have is severely overhyped because of his IPL hundreds. He isn't even Twenty20 or IPL GOAT, let alone T20i GOAT.

Kohli is T20 GOAT?! LOL. Yeah, he's really good but are you serious?! He just had one good year. He doesn't even have a 100 in T20i's LOL. And the one good year he did have is severely overhyped because of his IPL hundreds. He isn't even Twenty20 or IPL GOAT, let alone T20i GOAT.

God, are you delusional..

Who else is there? Gayle?

Smith and Root's numbers in ODI's are quite similar despite Smith playing a lot of games as a A/R early on in his career.

Smith and Root's numbers in ODI's are quite similar despite Smith playing a lot of games as a A/R early on in his career.

Gayle is leagues, in fact lightyears ahead of him when it comes to Twenty20 and so is Brendon McCullum. As for T20i's, both Gayle and Brendon are still ahead of him. Kohli, as of now, falls in the Finch, Maxwell, etc category. To become a T20i ATG, he really needs a couple of hundreds and lots of sixes, if not anything more.

Gayle is leagues, in fact lightyears ahead of him when it comes to Twenty20 and so is Brendon McCullum. As for T20i's, both Gayle and Brendon are still ahead of him. Kohli, as of now, falls in the Finch, Maxwell, etc category. To become a T20i ATG, he really needs a couple of hundreds and lots of sixes, if not anything more.

In LOIs, Williamson is the weakest of the lot, but it will be interesting to see where each stands across all three formats after 10 years. However, as I said before, there is no point in discussing the credentials of The Big Four on series-by-series basis, because it leads to knee-jerk reactions.

Smith was supposed to be a FTB after he failed on green-tops in the 2015 Ashes, now he is the best in the world by far; Kohli was supposed to be an average Test batsman, but then 2016 happened; Root was supposed to fail outside England, but he scored a high class hundred in South Africa and was England's best batsman in India, and God knows how many runs he would have piled up if he was facing the pies of Moeen, Rashid and Ansari like Kohli, instead of facing Ashwin and Jadeja. His main issue so far has been his conversion rate, but he is good enough to deal with any bowling in any conditions, and he will score a lot of hundreds in the future.

In LOIs, Kohl is a certified ATG, so it will be almost impossible for Smith or Root to catch him, while Smith is a certified ATG in Tests but Kohli and Root will get there in the future as well. As far Smith vs Root in LOIs is concerned, it depends on how Root does in the upcoming Champions Trophy and World Cup at home. If dominates with the bat, he will surpass Smith in LOIs, because he is already well ahead in T20Is.

Williamson has the class to match them in Tests, but in LOIs, he is the second coming of Amla.

Kohli is T20 GOAT?! LOL. Yeah, he's really good but are you serious?! He just had one good year. He doesn't even have a 100 in T20i's LOL. And the one good year he did have is severely overhyped because of his IPL hundreds. He isn't even Twenty20 or IPL GOAT, let alone T20i GOAT.

God, are you delusional..

One good year? He was man of the tournament in 2014 too (as well as 2016). He's the T20I GOAT.

Kohli is T20 GOAT?! LOL. Yeah, he's really good but are you serious?! He just had one good year. He doesn't even have a 100 in T20i's LOL. And the one good year he did have is severely overhyped because of his IPL hundreds. He isn't even Twenty20 or IPL GOAT, let alone T20i GOAT.

God, are you delusional..

kohli is a certified goat in t20. but in odi he is quiet overrated. he wasas poor in world cups.

None of these guys will come close to Virat in LOI's . Smith second in ODIs and Joe root in T20s .
Smith definitely a notch above the rest in Tests followed by Root/Virat and Williamson in that order .

So its been established that all of these guys did not have a purple patch or something but are rather terrific players. All three among the runs all the time. Smith is by far the best Test player, followed by Root, KW and then VK.

As for ODI's, its Virat Kohli all the way followed by Root and then Smith & KW.

you are underrating smith in ODIs , yes Root has a better game for the format but at thisp point for any opposition Smith would be a more prized wicket than Root .

As per now, this is the order.Root plays for England and hence he will play lots of tests(he is just 25) and even though his conversion rate is poor, he will end up with 30 hundreds unless he regresses.

As per now, this is the order.Root plays for England and hence he will play lots of tests(he is just 25) and even though his conversion rate is poor, he will end up with 30 hundreds unless he regresses.

No right now it's

Smith>Root>Kohli=Kane

Kohli has surpassed Kane for me from WI away series to Eng home series but this current poor series along with Kane's return to form means both are equal again for me

you are underrating smith in ODIs , yes Root has a better game for the format but at thisp point for any opposition Smith would be a more prized wicket than Root .

True. I can't disagree there. Root is ahead statistically and has some great knocks but Smith would be the more prized wicket. But then again, for ODI's, an even more prized wicket would be Warner even though Smith is better than him as we all know. So you see, I was comparing them on the basis of statistics and clutch knocks.

Smith is ahead for now. Root needs to improve his conversion rate. But even in difficult conditions at times he's looked a class apart from his team mates and scores at a good strike rate. He'll come good in this area eventually.

Big fan of Williamson, he is a class act. However, I feel in the long run his credentials will suffer as a result of playing for New Zealand. New Zealand have improved considerably in recent years, but is still the weakest team among the ones the other three play for. It is unlikely Williamson will get to play in as many knockout games in big ICC tournaments because of this reason, where one is really able to prove himself as an ATG. Recent example of this was the Champions Trophy, Williamson looked in amazing form but his team failed to progress past the preliminary round, hence, his performances were largely looked over.

Williamson just scored two hundreds against SA in last series albeit he was rubbish for a while before that. Kohli was trash last series but prior to that he had two godly home series. Not sure who is better.